"Leave?" Little Barty said in surprise, "Shouldn't we go back to meet Michael and John? For now, we are short of strength, and their joining can give us a lot of help..."

"Shh-"

The man made a silencing gesture, "Someone is already targeting them."

Little Barty said:

"You mean Auror? It's just Auror..."

"Yes, they are just Aurors. We don't need to take them seriously at all. But what if there are more than just Aurors in Hogwarts now?"

The man smiled evilly and said, "As far as I know, goblins have been very active recently."

Little Barty's complexion suddenly turned pale.

"But how could a goblin..."

"What's impossible?" the man interrupted, "Hunting is always a two-way street. People can hunt beasts, and beasts can hunt people in turn. As Michael is a goblin hunter, the goblins naturally want to kill him."

He hunted them down."

"I knew that they must be trying to cut us off." Little Barty murmured, "But in this case, we should save them even more... They are our best and most suitable partners."

The man shook his head and said:

"Little Barty, just think of it as...this is a test for them.

If they can survive this attack, I will help them later.

And if they don't survive, it proves that they are not qualified to cooperate with me."

After saying that, the man swung his robe, smiled evilly, and turned into a black smoke, wrapping the python and flying straight into the sky.

Wormtail followed tremblingly.

Seeing this, the confused look on Little Barty's face, which stayed where he was, faded away, replaced by an excited grin.

"The Dark Lord is back!"

He roared and shot a Dark Mark.
Chapter completed!